October is underway...

Hello Families! 

Thank you so much to those of you that made it out to our ECOSchool parent meeting on Wednesday night! We are looking forward to this trip and welcome any questions, concerns, hesitations and financial concerns you may be having. Please reach out so we can support you.

       

Here are the highlights of what our curricular focuses were this week.

Science

This week in Science we reviewed success criteria for what a 2, 3 and 4 response looks like when we are conducting our research on the wetlands. Each student took on a challenge of exploring three plants and animals in ONE part of the wetlands (a swamp, marsh, bog or fen). Students worked on developing introductory sentences, supporting facts for each of their plants and animals, and included information on how that plant or animal continues to thrive within that wetland ecosystem. We were truly impressed with the quality of work we got this week!

Humanities

This week, we identified key components included within newspaper articles such as who, what, where, when, why and how. We also worked on summarizing information from these articles. The goal in doing this activity this week was to create a foundation for students to critically analyze articles about the wetlands, and eventually write their own article about the importance of preserving our wetlands and some specific human actions that are being implemented to preserve wetlands.

Students also began writing stories based upon a fall picture prompt. Our learning intention is to experience different perspectives within the same image. Once the students are done writing their stories, they will be sharing their stories with their peers in small groups and discussing the elements of a story in greater detail.

Additionally, students have finished up their Me Maps. Students provided feedback to one of their peers Me Maps this week and are currently working on their final touchups before we hang these wonderful maps up around the classroom spaces.  

Math

Multiplication, Multiplication, Multiplication!

We have been working in smaller groups this week to learn and/or review strategies for double digit multiplication. We did the traditional algorithm, partial products, box method, and some even did the lattice method! We have emphasized that each method will work differently for everyone, and we can identify a strategy that works best for us.

Drama/Art/Music

In Music this week, students were arranged into groups and started developing an instrumental piece to go along with the song “Spooky Scary Skeletons” for Hallowe’en. This has been such an interesting experience for all of us. We all have different strengths with various instruments and rhythmic patterns in clapping and stomping.

In Drama, students FINALLY presented their Readers Theatre scripts in the groups they have been working with for the last few weeks. Our next step will be incorporating drama into our learning about the wetlands and trees and forests.

Ask Me About:

-  What are the plants and animals I researched this week?

- What did I do in Guided Reading this week?

- How does the Words Their Way spelling program work?

-  What strategy works best for me with double digit multiplication?

Practice:

-  Basic Multiplication Facts!